New Book: Mastering Microcontrollers, Helped by Arduino

December 10, 2013 | 14:37

New Book: Mastering Microcontrollers, Helped by Arduino

Arduino boards have taken the world by storm since their initial development. Affordable and easy to use, Arduino boards are becoming increasingly popular with professionals, academics and hobbyists for microcontroller programming. In Mastering Microcontrollers, Elektor lab engineer and ...

Arduino boards have taken the world by storm since their initial development. Affordable and easy to use, Arduino boards are becoming increasingly popular with professionals, academics and hobbyists for microcontroller programming.

In Mastering Microcontrollers, Elektor lab engineer and journalist Clemens Valens guides readers through the basics of programming any microcontroller; inputs and outputs (analog and digital), interrupts, communication busses (RS-232, SPI, I²C, 1-wire, SMBus, etc.), timers, and much more. It doesn't matter if you're new to microcontroller programming or using Arduino boards for the first time; this book ensures that you have a firm foundation on which to build your understanding, whilst also providing a challenge to veteran programmers too.

Clemens presents clear and detailed sketches and schematics throughout the book which help you develop a strong grasp on how to use a variety of common electronic components, such as matrix keyboards, displays (LED, alphanumeric and graphic color LCD), motors, sensors (temperature, pressure, humidity, sound, light, and infrared), rotary encoders, piezo buzzers, pushbuttons, relays, etc. Even when you have reached the end of this guidebook, it remains essential reference material for programming queries of varying complexity.

In a testimonial made after reading the French original version of the book, Hervé M describes how it 'made me understand things in only three sentences that seemed previously completely impenetrable' which is undoubtedly thanks to Clemens writing in a way that is enjoyable to read, with insightful and humorous real-life comparisons. And thanks to Arduino the implementation of the presented concepts is simple and fun. Some of the proposed projects are very original:

• Money Game

• Misophone (a musical fork)

• Car GPS Scrambler

• Weather Station

• DCF77 Decoder

• Illegal Time Transmitter

• Infrared Remote Manipulator

• Annoying Sound Generator

• Italian Horn Alarm

• Overheating Detector

• PID Controller

• Data Logger

• SVG File Oscilloscope

• 6-Channel Voltmeter

All projects and code examples in this book have been tried and tested on an Arduino Uno board. They should also work with the Arduino Mega and every other compatible board that exposes the Arduino shield extension connectors. All sketches and component lists can be downloaded free of charge from the Elektor website.

Elektor GREEN and GOLD members can benefit from a special limited-time offer, running until November 15th: a 15% discount on the regular price of Mastering Microcontrollers plus free shipping and handling. Additionally, if you order other Elektor products at the same time, you receive free shipping on the entire order.